Updated 11.05
IRELAND’S ROB HEFFERNAN has claimed a gold medal in the 50k walk at the World Track and Field Championships in Moscow this morning.
Heffernan finished in first place, over a minute ahead of his nearest challenger, Russia’s Mikhail Ryzhov.
In addition, his time of 3:37:56 was the fastest of the year.
The result follows his fourth place finish at the London Olympics, in which he came agonisingly close to securing a bronze medal.
He becomes the first Irish athlete to win gold at the World Championships since Sonia O’Sullivan in 1995, and only the second ever male athlete to triumph at the event, after Eamonn Coghlan in 1983.
And there was success for Ireland’s other representative as Donegal’s Brendan Boyce, who is trained by Heffernan, finished 25th in a personal best time of 3:54:24.
First published at 9.12
That’s me cousin I’m absolutely delighted… Let the celebrations begin.
So happy fr him, went to London to watch him, was heart broken for him, now, couldn’t be happier for him, forgotten athlete in his poxy country.
Yes and i meant the him’s ;-)
No stopping the Rebels these days :D
Fair play to you man!!!!!!!
well done world champion rob!!!
fantastic result!!
I went to school with him and see him walk past my house very fast when training!!!
Some on get the video ready: do it for your county do it for your pride you’ll be living in the hall of fame and the world’s gonna know your name… rob did it for all of us
Wouldn’t agree with you that hes a forgotten athlete! Very well known name to anybody interested in Irish athletics!
Made me a pretty penny at 30/1 to win gold!
True athlete!
I heard only a hour ago brilliant r best athlete at the last two Olympics the second best thing to happen today only behind the birth of the last of my daughter I am planning to watch Robert before ickle choose to arrive fair play corkman .
Fantastic result after his heart-break in London last year.
Gold for Rob. Delighted. Well deserved.
All those 4th places and now top of the podium. Great performance by the Corkman. A great day for Irish sport.
By the way isn’t it a disgrace that a terrestrial channel Rte, Tv3 aren’t showing any of the World Champs – with alot of Irish athletes performing
Sorry just to bring it up as a point
Absolute disgrace but they are always the same
We’ve 10 athletes. RTE need to prioritise spending & audiences for athletics are tiny & half the people who’d watch it would watch it on BBC anyway. RTE could do with a dedicated sports channel, I think that’d be financially possible.
RTE showed all the World Championships previously and got very poor audiences for them. Outside the Olympics Irish people just don’t watch athletics in large numbers unless an Irish athlete is involved.
Clearly in tighter financial circumstances and with a smaller Irish athletics team going they couldn’t justify the expense of sending a full team to the championships. I’ll bet if RTE were showing full coverage somebody would be on moaning about how much money they were spending on it.
Now back to the main story and congratulations to Rob Heffernan on a wonderful result. Very well deserved.
Could they not relay the BBC or eurosport coverage? No need to send a big team over.
Well don rob heffernan, no-one deserves it more
With Kenny going they could have afforded a skeleton crew at least. It’s only on every 2 years like. Athletics is unglamourous enough as it is to kids who might have the talent on our little island without denying them a glance at the world stage and what might lie ahead if they were willing to make the sacrifices. Shame on RTÉ.
Athletics is badly tarnished with cheats, alot of people me included don’t want to watch it on TV. Not implying anything here to or latest Gold Medal
This is a direct result of having that D4 clown Ryle Nugent in charge of Sport at RTE.
As long as his Rugby chums get plenty of airtime he’s happy, to the detriment of football, athletics, (decent) boxing etc..
Congratulations. Great news.
He looked in serious shape going over, just shows that solid preparation pays off. Congradulations Rob
Well done!!!
Incredible, and so well deserved! Congratulations to all at Togher AC!
Well done rob , for all the hard work that u put in that nobody sees , it’s well deserved ur a credit to athletics
World Champion Rob Heffernan
Well done Rob, you done our country and Cork proud. A brilliant achievement, you are now Irelands GOLDEN BOY!!!
Watching on the bbc and nearly cried when coverage went off. Delighted for Rob and his family. Thoroughly deserved. :)
What a result. I through example of hard work and dedication paying off…
Fantastic stuff. Well done Rob.
Yet another medal winning performance from a Cork athlete!!
Where would we be without them.
What is with all the red thumbs.
Jeez there are some narky people out there this morning.
Sonia O’Sullivan, Derval O’Rourke, Marcus O’Sullivan, Mark Carroll, Olive Loughnane and now Rob Heffernan, all medal winners at European or World level, and all from Cork.
Seriously.
Really delighted for Rob Heffernan. We (as a nation) don’t win many gold’s at this level of competition.
Great reward for all the years of effort & commitment to his sport that he loves.
Was about to take you to task on Loughnane Ben but then I googled her! Cork born. Now, question so for the rebel county – where is Rory Gallagher from?!
Donegal
And I didn’t have to Google it. I knew that. But my mothers aunt is very close to him in St. Olivers cemetery near Ballincollig.
Buried very close to him I should have said!!
So proud of my cousin right now.WELL DONE ROB.
Great stuff, well done rob..
One of the hardest working folks in any sport we have ever had, so glad he got the result he deserved!
Fair play to him. That race-walking is one tough sport. Good on him.
Yessssss brillant . Never put a foot wrong .
Brilliant athlete in a very tough discipline, couldn’t believe his condition before these championships-people like him sacrifice everything for this.
Well done ,,Real shame ,them gob shites RTE didint think it was worth while to show the games ,,
Well done on updates….not
Latest – just in – he’s won and he’s over the moon. More as we get it.
Well done Rob – You are indeed a true star.
With a rebel yell we say more more more… well done rob never give up on the Irish
Here’s the link to the Eurosport feed of the race finish – the look on Rob’s face as he crosses the line says it all really. Well done! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ0h2FLVK38
He walked 50k quicker than most Marathon runners run 42k. Amazing !
He certainly can walk the walk but does he talk the talk. This is the real issue.
Power walkers of Ireland will be all over the place this evening. If we could only attach them to the grid, we’d have electricity reserves for hundreds of years.
Well done Rob
Great few days for Cork sport. Hon the rebels!
Batten down the hatches Andrew. They don’t seem to like us Cork folk..
Must be jealousy
Ha ha
Fantastic victory.
Absolutely delighted for him after finishing fourth in the Olympics last year truly deserved and fourth fastest time in history irish hero!
As if Cork’s win last sunday was’nt enough,no one, but no one deserves this better than this man,after all the years of trying,and to finally achieve gold is just wonderfull,congrats Rob.
He didn’t just win it he walked it
Well done Rob,Your a hero…
Well done mate, great for the country
He’s been walking since he’s been a year old so this is well deserved. His technique never fails to amaze me!
Well done Rob !!
Looks like Cork are on for the double after all
Rebels here!
Well done Rob. Tremendous result and deserved for all that hard work and commitment
“My grandfather started walking five miles a day when he was sixty. He’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the hell he is.”
Well done Rob. Rte surely could of shown it. It is not like he came from nowhere he came 4th in London!
Fantastic result Rob. He put in so much hard work, we are all proud of him.
Unreal dedication and determination, well done Rob.
Hope he brings the medal round to the schools in Cork like.
p.s. What did he get in his leaving?!? ;-)
He did very well in the leaving.
Sure didn’t he walk it?
Well done! Was the reigning Olympic champion missing?
Twit… You beat whats there, not what’s not there.
I just asked was he missing, nothing else
Good man yourself!
Can’t wait to see the results of the upsurge in popularity of funny walking on the streets of Ireland. I mean, not just at 2am like!
Well done Robert about time theres abit good news
Congratulations What a brilliant achievement
Great achievement for him and hope it goes a long way in making up for just finishing outside of the medals in London.
Absolutely fantastic achievement!! Had the pleasure of watching his valiant attempt in coming so agonisingly close to an Olympic medal in London last August. This is well-deserved confirmation of his huge talent.
A tangible athletic achievement on the international stage at last! We don’t have to hear that dreadful refrain: “a new Irish record set”, in lieu of actual international achievement.
Brilliant. Congrats to all his family for supporting him
fantastic – more good news please
Walking’s a sport?
Are those MY feet?
He must be walking on air… no wait, that’s running.
Maith thu Maith an fear
A great achievement for a great Irishman.
Well done.